5/29/94
The following Crime Bill update was received from F.A.M.M. (Families Against Mandatory Minimums). You can get on F.A.M.M.'s mailing list directly by sending email to "[email protected]", with the word "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject, or you can call the F.A.M.M. hotline at (703) 685-6860. For information and membership materials, contact:
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, #200-South
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 457-5790 fax (202) 457-8564
The House and the Senate have named the conferees to the Conference Committee that will be working on the Crime Bill when they return on June 6th when serious discussions begin on the omnibus crime bill.
It is very important that they hear from us now because they need to know that people care about these issues. FAMM, D.C., has already heard from Schumer's office that he is still continuing to hear from us on the safety valve even though he is on our side. It's important to target the members who we think are not going to vote with us, and right now, that includes most of the Senate Conferees. We urge you to phone, fax and write them to support the House version of the safety valve, including it's retroactivity. As we have discussed previously, the House version states you must be a first time, non-violent, not a leader/organizer/manager and must have given the government all the information you had about the offense.
People who meet that criteria and have sentences at or near five or ten years will be eligible for a reduction in sentence. The average reduction will be about 24 or 30 months. The total number of people currently in the federal prisons who would be eligible for that reduction is 1,600 people. When you talk to members of Congress, let them know that we are not talking about releasing all 90,000 federal inmates, that it is a very small percentage who will be ffected. We urge them to make it retroactive, because if they don't we will continue to use that precious prison space for someone who is a non-violent, low level drug defendant that could be sentenced to analternative program, after doing a couple of years in prison.
The members you really need to target are:
Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Judicial Committee
224-5042 - Phone 224-0139 - Fax
Senator Orin Hatch
224-5251 - Phone 224-6331 - Fax
Senator Patrick Leahy, VT
224-4242 - Phone 224-3595 - Fax
Senator Strom Thrummond
224-5972 - Phone 224-1300 - Fax
Senator Howard Metzenbaum
224-2315 - Phone 224-6519 - Fax
Senator Alan Simpson
224-3424 - Phone 224-1315 - Fax
Senator Chad Grassley
224-3744 - Phone 224-6020 - Fax
Rep. Henry Hyde
225-4561 - Phone 225-1240 - Fax
Senator Ted Kennedy
224-4543 - Phone 224-2417 - Fax
Rep. Carlos Moorhead
225-4176 - Phone 226-1279 - Fax
Senator Dennis DeConcini
224-4521- Phone 224-2302 - Fax
Rep. Bill McCollum
225-2176 - Phone 225-0999 - Fax
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner
225-5101- Phone 225-3190 - Fax
URGE CONFEREES TO MAKE THE SAFETY VALVE RETROACTIVE AND URGE THEM TO DROP
DRUG OFFENSES FROM THE THREE STRIKES PROVISION.
Hyde and McCollum are already supporting the safety valve but we want them
to know we want them to convince the other conferees to support it.
Write to House members: Write to Senator members:
The Honorable ________ The Honorable __________
House of Representatives U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
If you want a fax of this information call the D.C. office or contact
[email protected].
Thank you for sticking with us on this. The retroactivity of the safety valve is so urgent, if we don't let people know about it, no one will do it. It's extremely important. Please help.
Until next week. [email protected]
Pamela McCue
P. O. Box 4057
Austin, TX 78765
512-452-1303
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